The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for accepting sheet material, in particular documents of value such as bank notes, checks, etc., whereby different groups of sheet material are successively accepted and stored.
In a known method and corresponding apparatus for accepting sheet material such as bank notes, it is provided that a deliverer inputs a group of bank notes, hereinafter called a delivery, into a corresponding apparatus for acceptance. Additionally, the deliverer must identify himself, for example by using a check card whose data, e.g. account number, are read. The corresponding account number is then credited with the bank notes inputted for acceptance. For this purpose the bank notes are checked for example as to authenticity and denomination in order to determine the total sum of bank notes inputted for acceptance. The checked bank notes are then transported by the apparatus to a storage container and kept there. The bank notes are stored in the storage container in the order of their input.
However, the known method and corresponding apparatus have disadvantages in several respects. One problem is for example the use of a check card for identification. When e.g. an employee brings the delivery to a bank operating a corresponding apparatus, he must carry the account holder's check card with him to perform identification successfully. This results in certain risks, on the one hand, and if different employees make deliveries it is problematic to equip each of the employees with a corresponding check card, on the other hand. Further problems can arise upon acceptance of the delivery in the apparatus if there are malfunctions during transport of the bank notes within the apparatus that cause a change in their order, or there are errors during the check of the bank notes. In such cases it is not readily possible to assign the problematic, e.g. forged, bank notes to the actual deliverer. This makes it difficult or impossible to check the individual deliveries subsequently.